Composite materials are increasingly used as a building material in aviation, automotive and renewable energy structures such as solar panels and wind blades. This specification describes a method of using a fiber composite sandwich panel to transmit signals such as data, voice, music, video, or a command between a plurality of devices that are connected to the fiber composite panel without a need for additional wiring. The fiber composite sandwich panel comprises at least two layers of electrically conductive composite material such as carbon fiber that are separated by an electrically insulating composite material such as fiberglass. A transceiver device and data devices such as sensors and actuators are connected to carbon fiber layers that conduct signals to and from the data devices. The carbon fiber layers can also be used to provide power to the data devices.
Possible communication methods are described in the United States patent to Maryanka, U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,025 for Voice, Music, Video and Data Transmission Over Direct Current Wires which teaches the high speed transmission of data over DC power lines with error control by means of channel coding and modulation. In the '025 patent, the carrier is conveyed by at least one medium selected from the group consisting of a utility power line, a DC power line, a dedicated communication wire, a fiber optic cable, a radio wave, an ultrasonic wave, and a magnetic field. Further, the United States patent to Maryanka, U.S. Pat. No. 7,010,050 for Signaling Over Noisy Channels teaches a system and method for signaling among a plurality of devices via a communication carrier over a noisy medium such as a power line, and particularly relates to an innovative method and system for high speed signaling using an innovative modulation scheme. In the '050 patent, a transmitter transmits an arbitrary datum over a channel of a communication carrier selected from the group consisting of a utility power line, a DC power line, a dedicated communication wire, a fiber optic cable, a radio wave, an ultrasonic wave, and a magnetic field. The teachings of both Maryanka patents are incorporated herein by reference.
Both of the Maryanka prior art patents rely on the use of certain named mediums for the transmission of signals. In the present device, the signals are conducted over a high strength fiber composite laminate that forms the structure of a shell or a mobile enclosure. The shell may be the frame of a seat, and the mobile enclosure may be a vehicular or aeronautical device. No separate wire or conductive medium other than the fiber composite laminate is required in order to convey the signals.
The published application of Olson et al, US 2010/0127802, discloses a sandwich vehicle structure having integrated electromagnetic radiation pathways in which a core extends between upper and lower conducting plates. The core comprises a core medium and a plurality of spaced apart core members embedded in the core medium having different electromagnetic properties allowing for propagation of electromagnetic radiation within the core. The radiation may be received by one or more transceivers, transducers, or sensors that are positioned on the structure. In the Olson device however, the electromagnetic energy is radiated within the core, electromagnetic energy is not conducted by the upper and lower conducting plates.